I think it’s important to pay tribute to our grass roots campaigners. Contrary to what some of my political opponents may falsely say, getting letters, emails and telephone calls from people in the Yeovil and South Somerset constituency is very welcome and central to my role as a representative.

Parliament entered its summer recess this week and it is a good point to look back at the last few months and also to the autumn session ahead.

Global Britain is an attractive slogan, evoking thoughts of our great trading heritage and also some of our cutting edge technologies leading the world. We can enter new and expanding markets as well as enriching our cultural connections and exploring interesting import options.

As an MP you get a fantastic set of opportunities to have meetings and discussions with interesting people from across the globe; Mark Zuckerberg perhaps proving an exception to the rule as he is at present refusing a House of Commons Select Committee summons (although not from one of the committ

Parts of an MP’s job are a real privilege and so may I say a big ‘thank you’ to all the organisers and helpers at both the St Margaret’s Hospice Summer Fete and the Haselbury Plucknett Summer Fair for involving me in their brilliant events at the weekend.

Last week saw Local Elections in some parts of the Country and I’d like to say thank you to those involved; campaigners from all across the political spectrum who given up their time to make our democracy a more vibrant one.

Parliament returned in dramatic style at the start of the week after the Easter recess. The Speaker, John Bercow, can divide opinion but he is a passionate supporter of the voice of backbenchers and the House of Commons as a whole and its duty to scrutinise the Government and hold it to account.

Changes to Data Protection laws are coming in May, and in my view this is not a moment too soon. It’s become an urgent issue as personal information is often shared and if treated the wrong way could potentially be misused by the unscrupulous.

On Monday I travelled with other members of the European Scrutiny Committee to Brussels for a day of meetings with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator and also officials from EFTA, the European Free Trade Association. Firstly I should say that although M.

‘Fake News’ was the phrase of 2017. As with many things, Donald Trump has taken credit for it but whatever the origins it is everywhere and has come to mean different things to different people.